Virtual personal video recorder

ABSTRACT

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or method that manages media content. The disclosed system includes a component that synchronizes with a multimedia player that is in communication with the component. The component upon synchronization automatically determines an amount of storage space available on the handheld device and based at least in part on this available space, the component substitutes a first media presentation persisted on the storage space with a second media presentation retrieved from a media storage farm.

BACKGROUND

Users of conventional television and cable systems often employrecording systems to implement noncommercial time shifting functions ofdesired programs. In this way, an individual is able to record a programthat the individual is unable to view as it is being broadcast and watchthe recorded program in a more convenient time.

One type of recording system employs a feature that enables a user torecord a pre-selected program by entering a unique programidentification number associated with specific program. The programidentification number, which may be found in a printed televisionlisting, corresponds to programming information (e.g., channel, time,duration) that is employed by the recording system to record theparticular program when it is broadcast.

In order to remain competitive in the home entertainment industry,manufacturers and service providers have been increasing their effortsto develop improved entertainment systems. A rapidly evolving type ofentertainment system relates to personal video recorder (PVR) system. Apersonal video recorder (PVR) system includes a large digital datastorage device, such as a hard disk, for storing recorded audio and/orvideo programming in digital format (e.g., without a videotape). Thestorage device enables a viewer to effectively and efficiently implementa time-shifting function so that the viewer can watch the recordedprogram at a more convenient time. The personal video recorder (PVR)system receives broadcast programs from a service provider, such as inthe form of cable television, satellite, or another source ofprogramming. The personal video recorder (PVR) system may also employ avideo compression system (e.g., an MPEG-2 format) in combination with ananalog to digital converter for converting analog broadcast signals intoan appropriate digital format. Alternatively or additionally, thepersonal video recorder (PVR) system can receive broadcast signals in adigital format.

A personal video recorder (PVR) system further may provide enhancedrecording capabilities and enhanced television functionality. By way ofexample, the personal video recorder (PVR) system may include a virtualpausing functionality, such that a user may pause a live broadcast for aperiod of time while the personal video recorder (PVR) system continuesto record the live broadcast. The user may then continue watching fromthe point that the pause was initiated while the personal video recorder(PVR) system continues to record the live broadcast. Other availablefeatures can include fast forwarding through recorded programming,rewinding parts of recorded programming, skipping ahead through therecorded programming, as well as of the enhanced televisionfunctionality.

Another feature of the personal video recorder (PVR) system relates tointelligent recording of programming. One example of intelligentrecording enables the user to program one or more keywords that aresearched for utilizing an electronic program guide stored on thepersonal video recorder (PVR) system. The personal video recorder (PVR),in turn, automatically records shows that match the search criteria.Another recording method enables a user to select particular program torecord all future broadcast episodes of that program.

Consequently, as the available bandwidth for broadcast programscontinues to increase, service providers are continuing to increase thenumber of programming channels from which to choose. Additionally, withthe advent of high definition broadcasting modalities and thecommensurate increase in the amount storage space necessary to persistsuch broadcast programs, current storage media associated with standardpersonal video recorders (PVRs), and more particularly, hand-helddevices with multimedia playback and record capabilities is notsatisfactory.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosed subject matter. Thissummary is not an extensive overview, and it is not intended to identifykey/critical elements or to delineate the scope thereof Its sole purposeis to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to themore detailed description that is presented later.

Storage on handheld devices is limited, and there is an ever increasingdemand to store content of large-size (e.g., movies, multimediapresentations, audio files, etc.) on such handheld devices. The demandfor storage space on such devices far outpaces available space oftenforcing users to repeatedly delete certain content in order to make roomfor new content. The subject matter as claimed in one aspect leveragesremote storage facilities to effectively increased storage capacity of ahandheld device. The handheld device can be synchronized with a service(e.g., web-based service) that monitors and manages available space onthe handheld device. The service can age out content likely to not bewatched in the near future while still retaining a marker for suchcontent on the handheld device. Thus, if the user desires to watch agedout content, the service can automatically download previously deletedcontent back to the handheld device. Additionally, the service works inthe background, employing sophisticated aging policies to know when andwhich content should be scaled down (e.g., compressed). When an item isscaled down, the service does not compel the handheld device tocompletely discard the content; rather, the service causes the handhelddevice to maintain a tag, link, flag, or cache to the item of interest.The size of the cache can, for example, be dynamically and variablydependent on Internet connection speeds. If and when the user elects toplay a previously aged out and/or compressed (e.g., scaled-down)multimedia clip on the handheld device, the service can designate othercontent persisted on storage media associated with handheld device to becompressed and/or aged out, initiates the download of the full requestedcontent, and begins immediate playback, leveraging the cached portion toprovide an uninterrupted viewing experience. The user can simply sitback and enjoy the extra movies, and never needs to be bothered withmanaging the storage space associated with the handheld device.

In a further aspect the subject matter can provide for hot swappinglarge sets of files. For example, the claimed subject matter can moveall video content persisted on the handheld device to a remote storagemedia, transfer selected audio content stored on the remote storagemedia to the handheld device, and subsequently, after a significanthiatus, reload all the video content previously transferred to theremote storage media back to the handheld device while still maintainingthe ordering (e.g., full, aged, and/or compressed media clips) of allvideo content that were previously stored on the handheld device (e.g.,before the initial transfer of the video content).

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certainillustrative aspects of the disclosed and claimed subject matter aredescribed herein in connection with the following description and theannexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few ofthe various ways in which the principles disclosed herein can beemployed and is intended to include all such aspects and theirequivalents. Other advantages and novel features will become apparentfrom the following detailed description when considered in conjunctionwith the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a machine-implemented system that manages mediacontent associated with handheld devices in accordance with the claimedsubject matter.

FIG. 2 provides a more detailed depiction of a virtual personal videorecorder in accordance with one aspect of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 3 provides a more detailed depiction of an illustrative managementcomponent that manages and/or monitors storage media associated withboth a handheld device and a remote storage media farm in accordancewith an aspect of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system implemented on a machine that manages mediacontent associated with handheld devices in accordance with an aspect ofthe claimed subject matter.

FIG. 5 provides a further depiction of a machine implemented system thatmanages media content associated with handheld devices in accordancewith an aspect of the subject matter as claimed.

FIG. 6 illustrates yet another aspect of the machine implemented systemthat manages media content associated with handheld devices inaccordance with an aspect of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 7 depicts a further illustrative aspect of the machine implementedsystem that manages media content associated with handheld devices inaccordance with an aspect of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 8 illustrates another illustrative aspect of a system implementedon a machine that manages media content associated with handheld devicesin accordance of yet another aspect of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 9 depicts yet another illustrative aspect of a system thateffectuates and facilitates encapsulation of metadata within watermarksthat can be associated with multimedia segments or presentations inaccordance with an aspect of the subject matter as claimed.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow diagram of a machine implemented methodologythat manages media content associated with handheld devices inaccordance with an aspect of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a computer operable to executethe disclosed system in accordance with an aspect of the claimed subjectmatter.

FIG. 12 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an exemplary computingenvironment for processing the disclosed architecture in accordance withanother aspect.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The subject matter as claimed is now described with reference to thedrawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to likeelements throughout. In the following description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding thereof. It may be evident, however, that theclaimed subject matter can be practiced without these specific details.In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in blockdiagram form in order to facilitate a description thereof.

It should be noted at the outset that the claimed subject matter hasbeen elucidated as managing media content associated with one particularclassification or type of device. Nevertheless, as will be recognized bythose cognizant in the art the subject matter is not so limited and canfind pertinent application in a plethora of other contexts, mechanisms,and applications beyond the paradigm set forth herein withoutnecessarily departing from the spirit, intent and scope the subjectmatter as claimed. Accordingly, any and all such applicability, andderivations thereof, is deemed to fall within the ambit of the claimedsubject matter.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 that manages media content associatedwith handheld devices (e.g. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cellphones, mobile phones, smart phones, multimedia and Internet enabledmobile phones, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, laptop computers,portable media devices capable of storing and/or playing files in one ormore media format, etc.). System 100 can include virtual personal videorecorder 102 that leverages storage facilities associated with a remotestorage media farm to commensurately increase storage capacity of ahandheld device. System 100 can also include a remote storage media farm108 that can comprise a disparate multitude of storage media (e.g.,volatile and/or nonvolatile memory that can be electronically erasedand/or programmed, nonvolatile storage that persists digitally encodeddata on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic and/or opticallyretentive surfaces and/or coatings, and/or magnetic tape). Asillustrated, remote storage media farm 108 can include a first storagemedia, store₁, through an Nth storage media, store_(N), N being aninteger greater than or equal to one, to store multimedia content. Asillustrated, first storage media, store, through to the Nth storagemedia, store_(N), has collectively been denoted as remote storage mediafarm 108. Illustrative storage media that can be aggregated together toform remote storage media farm 108 can include nonvolatile memorytypically employed in memory cards, thumb devices, handy drives, memorysticks, and the like. Further, remote storage media from 108 can alsoutilize physical memory media associated with other common consumerand/or household devices, such as desktop computers (e.g., personalcomputers manufactured specifically for use on a desk in an office orhome and distinguishable from portable computers such as laptops),hand-held devices (e.g., Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cell phonesor mobile phones, smart phones, multimedia and Internet enabled mobilephones, etc.), portable computers (e.g., notebook computers, Tablet PCs,laptop computers, and the like), Personal Video Recorder (PVRs) and/orDigital Video Recorders (DVRs) (e.g., any device capable of recordingaudio/video multimedia presentations without videotape to digitalstorage media, and playback recorded content from digital storagemedia), multimedia players (e.g., portable media players capable ofstoring and/or playing files in one or more media format), and householddevices (e.g., televisions, video recorders, camcorders, High Fidelityhome cinema centers, video game controllers, digital audio players,consumer electronics, such as, compact disk players, digital versatiledisk players, and home appliances, such as, dishwashers, washingmachines, microwave ovens, convection and conventional ovens, clothesdryers, and the like).

As illustrated, virtual personal video recorder 102 can be any type ofmachine, or can reside and/or execute on any type of machine thatincludes a processor. Illustrative machines that can constitute virtualpersonal video recorder 102 can include Personal Digital Assistants(PDAs), cell phones, smart phones, laptop computers, notebook computers,consumer devices/appliances, industrial automation devices, hand-helddevices, desktop computers, server class computing devices, etc. Virtualpersonal video recorder 102, as depicted, can be in continuous andoperative, or sporadic but intermittent communication via networktopology 104 with handheld device 106 and/or remote storage media farm108.

Network topology 104 can include any viable communication and/orbroadcast technology, for example, wide and/or wireless modalitiesand/or technologies can be utilized to effectuate the subject matter asclaimed. Moreover, network topology 104 can include utilization ofPersonal Area Networks (PANs), Local Area Networks (LANs), Campus AreaNetworks (CAMs), Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), extranets,intranets, the Internet, Wide Area Networks (WANs)—both centralized anddistributed—and/or any combination, permutation, and/or aggregationthereof Additionally and/or alternatively, network topology 104 canemploy powerline communications wherein power distribution wires areutilized for both the simultaneous distribution of data as well astransmission of power.

Handheld device 106, similar to virtual personal video recorder 102, caninclude any device that includes a processor and that is capable ofeffective communications with network topology 104. As indicated above,hand-held device 106 can include Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs),cell phones, mobile phones, smart phones, multimedia and Internetenabled mobile phones, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, laptop computers,portable media devices capable of storing and/or playing files in one ormore media format, etc. Handheld device 106 in addition can be incontinuous and/or sporadic communication via network topology 104 withvirtual personal video recorder 102, during which time handheld device106 can effectuate and facilitate synchronization with virtual personalvideo recorder 102.

As stated above, virtual personal video recorder 102 can be incontinuous and operative, and/or sporadic and intermittent communicationwith both remote storage media farm 108 and/or handheld device 106.Virtual personal video recorder 102 monitors and/or manages availablespace associated with handheld device 106 and/or remote storage mediafarm 108. During the course of monitoring and managing space associatedwith handheld device 106 and/or remote storage media farm 108, virtualpersonal video recorder 102 can periodically and automatically age outmultimedia content persisted on storage media affiliated with handhelddevice 106, wherein aged out content is determined by the likelihoodthat the content will not need to be played back for the user in thenear future. Further, virtual personal video recorder 102 when aging outcontent persisted on storage media associated with handheld device 106can effectively compress such content. In other words, virtual personalvideo recorder 102 can remove and transfer all but the initial fewframes of a multimedia clip from storage media associated with handhelddevice 106 to remote storage farm 108 so as to ensure that when a userof the handheld device subsequently requests that previously aged outand/or compressed content be played back on the handheld device themultimedia clip in its entirety will be presented in an uninterruptedmanner such that the user does not perceive the fact that requestedcontent had been aged out, compressed, and/or persisted on a remotestorage media farm 108. Accordingly, emotional personal video recorder102 in order to effectuate this aging a process can utilizesophisticated aging policies, for example, through use of artificialintelligence and/or machine learning modalities, to ascertain whenand/or which content to selectively age or compress.

FIG. 2 provides a more detailed depiction 200 of virtual personal videorecorder 102. As illustrated, virtual personal video recorder 102 caninclude interface component 202 (hereinafter referred to as “interface202”) that can be in continuous and/or intermittent communication withhandheld device 106 and remote storage media farm 108 via networktopology 104. Additionally, virtual personal video recorder 102 can alsoinclude management component 204 that effectuates and facilitatesmanaging and monitoring storage media affiliated with handheld device106 and the plurality of storage media associated with remote storagefarm 108.

Interface 202 can receive data from a multitude of sources, such as, forexample, data associated with a particular multimedia presentation,client application, service, user, client, device, and/or entityinvolved with a particular transaction, a portion of transaction, andthereafter convey the received information to management component 204for subsequent analysis. Additionally, interface 202 can receiveinformation from management component 204 regarding the management ofstorage media affiliated with handheld device 106 and/or the multitudeof storage media that can comprise remote storage farm 108.

Interface 202 can provide various adapters, connectors, channels,communication pathways, etc. to integrate the various componentsincluded in system 200 into virtually any operating system and/ordatabase system and/or with one another. Additionally, interface 202 canprovide various adapters, connectors, channels, communicationmodalities, etc. that provide for interaction with various componentsthat can comprise system 200, and/or any other component (externaland/or internal), data, and the like associated with system 200.

Management component 204 manages and/or monitors available spaceassociated with handheld device 106 as well as remote storage media farm108. Management component 204 can periodically and automaticallysynchronize with handheld device 106 to ascertain whether multimediapresentations (e.g., movies, audio clips, multimedia fragments, and thelike) need to be aged out from associated storage media. Managementcomponent 204 can determine whether or not multimedia presentationsshould be aged off associated storage media by resorting to one or moreaging policies that can utilize heuristics, artificial intelligence,machine learning, statistical or probabilistic devices and/ormethodologies to ascertain the future probability and/or likelihood,based at least on part on a particular user's prior utilization ofhandheld device 106 and/or potential interest in a particular multimediapresentation, that content should be archived and/or removed from theassociated storage media.

When aging and/or archiving content from associated storage media toremote storage media farm 108, based at least in part on a determinedlack of interest on the part of a user of handheld device 106,management component 204 can compress content resident on handhelddevice 106. For example, when management component 204 can compresscontent resident on handheld device 106 by removing content from storagemedia associated with handheld device 106, management component 204 canthereafter persist a marker (e.g., a link, a flag, a cache containingthe first few frames from the multimedia presentation identified to bearchived or aged, and the like) so that when a user of the handhelddevice 106 subsequently requests that previously locally stored, but nowarchived, compressed, and/or remotely persisted, content be played backon the handheld device, such content will be played back in anuninterrupted manner such that the user will not perceive the fact thatthe requested content had been aged out, compressed, and/or persisted inremote storage media farm 108.

It should be noted that when management component 204 persists a marker,and/or more particularly, when management component 204 creates a cachecontaining the first few frames from a multimedia presentationidentified to be archived or aged, the size of the cache created can bedependent on the Internet connection speed associated with networktopology 104. Accordingly, the cache size is dynamically determined andcan be variable depending on the environment in which handheld device106 is operating. For instance, if handheld device 106 is operating inan environment where communication speed of network topology 106 is veryslow (e.g., 300 Baud modem) management component 204 can dynamically andautomatically affix the cache size to be commensurately larger than ifhandheld device 106 is placed in an environment where the communicationspeed of network topology 106 is exceedingly fast (e.g., gigabitEthernet communications).

Management component 204 can also include a retrieval aspect whereinwhen a user elects to play aged, archived, or compressed and remotelypersisted content, management component 204 can identify and designateother content currently persisted on storage media associated withhandheld device 106 for possible compression, archival, and storage onremote storage media farm 108, downloads or retrieves requested contentfrom remote storage media farm 108, and instigates handheld device 106to start immediately playing back the requested content commencing withpreviously persisted frames (e.g., frames that had previously beenpersisted in a cache).

Management component 204 can further facilitate and effectuate hotswapping of large sets of files. For example, management component 204can receive a request from a user to move all video content associatedwith handheld device 106 to remote storage media farm 108, load allmusic content (or selected tracks thereof) previously persisted inremote storage media farm 108 onto handheld device 106, and after ashort but substantial hiatus, during which time the user can play backthe music content stored on handheld device 106, swap out all the musiccontent now persisted on the handheld device 106 to remote storage mediafarm 108 for all the video content previously persisted on remotestorage media farm 108. The foregoing can be accomplished whilemaintaining any pre-established caching, ordering, compression, and/oraging policies that were in existence prior to the initial movement ofall the video content associated with handheld device 106.

Additionally, management component 204 can also include the recordingaspect wherein the management component 204 can selectively recordbroadcast media clips in high-definition or standard definition. Thedetermination as to whether or not to record media clips inhigh-definition standard definition can be dependent upon factors suchas free space associated with handheld device 106, speed of thecommunication network 104, retrieval rates from remote storage mediafarm 108, for example.

Additional functionalities of management component 204 can include anability to search or surf across live and recorded/cached content forselected items (e.g., multimedia fragments) of interest to the user. Forinstance, a user may wish to locate all multimedia clips related toNeolithic peoples in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example. Accordingly,management component 204 can identify, locate, and play these selectedclips after searching storage media associated with handheld device 106and remote storage media farm 108.

FIG. 3 provide a more detailed illustration 300 of management component204 that manages and/or monitors storage media associated with bothhandheld device 106 as well as remote storage media farm 108. Asillustrated, management component 204 can include aging component 302,retrieval component 304, playback component 306, search component 308,digital rights management component 310, recording component 312, andhot-swapping component 314.

Aging component 302 can periodically and/or continuously monitor storagemedia associated with handheld device 106 to determine whether or notmultimedia presentations stored thereon need to be aged out. Agingcomponent 302 can determine whether or not multimedia presentationshould be aged off associated storage media by utilizing one or moreaging policies. Such aging policies can utilize artificial intelligence,machine learning, statistical and/or probabilistic methodologies,heuristics, and the like to ascertain the future probability and/orlikelihood that identify content should be archived, aged out, and/orremoved from storage media associated with handheld device 106.Additionally, the aging policies can be based at least in part on aparticular user's prior utilization of handheld device 106 and/orpotential interest in a particular multimedia presentation.

Further, aging component 302 when aging, archiving, and/or transferringcontent from associated storage media to remote storage media farm 108,prior to removal all frames, can compress content resident on handhelddevice 106. For instance, aging component 302 can compress contentresident on handheld device 106 by deleting all but the first few framesof the multimedia presentation which can be persisted in a cache thatremains on storage media associated with handheld device 106. This smallcache containing the first few frames of the multimedia presentation canbe utilized to provide uninterrupted viewing of aged out, removed, andcompressed content when a user elicits a request to view the content atsome future date.

Management component 204 and further include retrieval component 304that can be deployed where a user elects to play previously aged out,archived, and/or compressed and remotely persisted content. Retrievalcomponent 304, when a user elicits a desire to play such content, canidentify and designate other content currently persisted on storagemedia associated with handheld device 106 for subsequent and possiblecompression, archival, and remote storage on storage media farm 108.Retrieval component 304 can further effectuate download of requestedcontent from remote storage media farm 108

Additionally, management component 204 can also include a playbackcomponent 306 that based on a user request to play currently extant andstored content, previously aged out, archived, and/or compressed andremotely persisted content, and/or content that is currently beingbroadcast, can cause handheld device 106 to start immediate playback ofthe requested of content. Where a user requests playback of previouslyaged out, archived, and/or compressed and remotely persisted content,playback component 306 can utilize stored tags, flags, links, etc. tocommence playback with the first few frames that had previously beencached and persisted on storage media associated with handheld device106.

Management component 204 can further include search component 308 thatprovide users the ability to search extant and stored content,previously aged out, archived, and/or compressed and remotely persistedcontent, and/or content that is currently being broadcast (e.g., livecontent) for items of interest to the user. For example, the searchcomponent 308 can utilize various metadata (e.g., closed captioninginformation) associated with the various multimedia clips to facilitatethe search. Where items of interest are identified search component 308can provide indication to playback component 306 to instigate handhelddevice 106 to start immediate playback of the identified of content.

Moreover, management component 204 can also include digital rightsmanagement component 310. Digital rights management component 310 canenforce and control access to digital data (e.g. multimedia clips,movies, music files, etc.). Such control can be effectuated through useof smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit technologies were in thesmart card, chip card, integrated circuit technologies are utilized inconjunction and association with digital rights management component 310to a permit or deny access to extant and stored content, previously agedout, archived, and/or compressed and remotely persisted content, and/orcontent that is currently being broadcast (e.g., live content).

Additionally, management component 204 can also include recordingcomponent 312 wherein when broadcast media presentations are recorded tostorage media associated with handheld device 106, recording componentcan indicate whether or not the broadcast media presentation should bestored in a high definition format, a standard definition formation, ora low definition format. The determination as to whether or notpresentations are stored in high definition, standard definition, or lowdefinition format can be dependent on factors such as free spaceavailable on storage media associated with handheld device 106,retrieval and storage rates associated with remote storage media farm108, and/or communication speeds associated with network topology 104.

Furthermore, management component 204 can also include hot swappingcomponent 314 and facilitates and effectuates hot swapping of large setsof multimedia files. For instance, hot swapping component 314 canreceive requests from users to transfer all video content associatedwith a particular handheld device 106 to a remote storage media farm 108and load all music content stored on remote storage media 108 ontohandheld device 106. Thereafter, once the user has tired of listening tothe music transferred to handheld device 106, for example, users canindicate via hot swapping component 314 their desire to substitute thecurrently persisted music content for the previously transfer videocontent. Hot swapping component 314 in encompassing this facility canmaintain any pre-established caching, ordering, compression, and/oraging policies that were in existence prior to the initial movement ofthe video content associated with handheld device 106.

FIG. 4 depicts an aspect of a system 400 that effectuates andfacilitates management of media content. System 400 can include virtualpersonal video recorder 102 that can comprise interface 202 andmanagement component 204. Additionally, system 400 can include store 402that can include any suitable data necessary for management component204 to monitor and/or manage multimedia content associated with handhelddevice 106. For instance, store 402 can include information regardinguser data, data related to a portion of a transaction, creditinformation, historic data related to a previous transaction, a portionof data associated with purchasing a good and/or service, a portion ofdata associated with selling a good and/or service, geographicallocation, online activity, previous online transactions, activity acrossdisparate network, activity across a network, credit card verification,membership, duration of membership, communication associated with anetwork, buddy lists, contacts, questions answered, questions posted,response time for questions, blog data, blog entries, endorsements,items bought, items sold, products on the network, information gleanedfrom a disparate website, information gleaned from the disparatenetwork, ratings from a website, a credit score, geographical location,a donation to charity, or any other information related to software,applications, web conferencing, and/or any suitable data related totransactions, etc.

It is to be appreciated that store 402 can be, for example, volatilememory or non-volatile memory, or can include both volatile andnon-volatile memory. By way of illustration, and not limitation,non-volatile memory can include read-only memory (ROM), programmableread only memory (PROM), electrically programmable read only memory(EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM),or flash memory. Volatile memory can include random access memory (RAM),which can act as external cache memory. By way of illustration ratherthan limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as static RAM(SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rateSDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM),Rambus direct RAM (RDRAM), direct Rambus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM) and Rambusdynamic RAM (RDRAM). Store 402 of the subject systems and methods isintended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any othersuitable types of memory. In addition, it is to be appreciated thatstore 402 can be a server, a database, a hard drive, and the like.

FIG. 5 provides yet a further depiction of a system 500 that effectuatesand facilitates management of multimedia content persisted on handhelddevices in accordance with an aspect of the claimed subject matter. Asdepicted, system 500 can include a data fusion component 502 that can beutilized to take advantage of information fission which may be inherentto a process (e.g., receiving and/or deciphering inputs) relating toanalyzing inputs through several different sensing modalities. Inparticular, one or more available inputs may provide a unique windowinto a physical environment (e.g., an entity inputting instructions)through several different sensing or input modalities. Because completedetails of the phenomena to be observed or analyzed may not be containedwithin a single sensing/input window, there can be informationfragmentation which results from this fission process. These informationfragments associated with the various sensing devices may include bothindependent and dependent components.

The independent components may be used to further fill out (or span) aninformation space; and the dependent components may be employed incombination to improve quality of common information recognizing thatall sensor/input data may be subject to error, and/or noise. In thiscontext, data fusion techniques employed by data fusion component 502may include algorithmic processing of sensor/input data to compensatefor inherent fragmentation of information because particular phenomenamay not be observed directly using a single sensing/input modality.Thus, data fusion provides a suitable framework to facilitatecondensing, combining, evaluating, and/or interpreting available sensedor received information in the context of a particular application.

FIG. 6 provides a further depiction of a system 600 that effectuates andfacilitates management of multimedia content stored on handheld devicesin accordance with an aspect of the claimed subject matter. Asillustrated management component 204 can, for example, employsynthesizing component 602 to combine, or filter information receivedfrom a variety of inputs (e.g., text, speech, gaze, environment, audio,images, gestures, noise, temperature, touch, smell, handwriting, penstrokes, analog signals, digital signals, vibration, motion, altitude,location, GPS, wireless, etc.), in raw or parsed (e.g. processed) form.Synthesizing component 602 through combining and filtering can provide aset of information that can be more informative, or accurate (e.g., withrespect to an entity's communicative or informational goals) andinformation from just one or two modalities, for example. As discussedin connection with FIG. 5, the data fusion component 502 can be employedto learn correlations between different data types, and the synthesizingcomponent 602 can employ such correlations in connection with combining,or filtering the input data.

FIG. 7 provides a further illustration of a system 700 that caneffectuate and facilitate monitoring and management of multimediacontent persisted on handheld devices in accordance with an aspect ofthe claimed subject matter. As illustrated management component 204 can,for example, employ context component 702 to determine contextassociated with a particular action or set of input data. As can beappreciated, context can play an important role with respectunderstanding meaning associated with particular sets of input, orintent of an individual or entity. For example, many words or sets ofwords can have double meanings (e.g., double entendre), and withoutproper context of use or intent of the words the corresponding meaningcan be unclear thus leading to increased probability of error inconnection with interpretation or translation thereof. The contextcomponent 702 can provide current or historical data in connection withinputs to increase proper interpretation of inputs. For example, time ofday may be helpful to understanding an input—in the morning, the word“drink” would likely have a high a probability of being associated withcoffee, tea, or juice as compared to be associated with a soft drink oralcoholic beverage during late hours. Context can also assist ininterpreting uttered words that sound the same (e.g., steak and, andstake). Knowledge that it is near dinnertime of the user as compared tothe user campaign would greatly help in recognizing the following spokenwords “I need a steak/stake”. Thus, if the context component 702 hadknowledge that the user was not camping, and that it was neardinnertime, the utterance would be interpreted as “steak”. On the otherhand, if the context component 702 knew (e.g., via GPS system input)that the user recently arrived at a camping ground within a nationalpark; it might more heavily weight the utterance as “stake”.

In view of the foregoing, it is readily apparent that utilization of thecontext component 702 to consider and analyze extrinsic information cansubstantially facilitate determining meaning of sets of inputs.

FIG. 8 a further illustration of a system 800 that effectuates andfacilitates management of multimedia content persisted on handhelddevices and/or remote storage media farms in accordance with an aspectof the claimed subject matter. As illustrated, system 800 can includepresentation component 802 that can provide various types of userinterface to facilitate interaction between a user and any componentcoupled to management component 204. As illustrated, presentationcomponent 802 is a separate entity that can be utilized with managementcomponent 204. However, it is to be appreciated that presentationcomponent 802 and/or other similar view components can be incorporatedinto management component 204 and/or a standalone unit. Presentationcomponent 802 can provide one or more graphical user interface, commandline interface, and the like. For example, the graphical user interfacecan be rendered that provides the user with a region or means to load,import, read, etc., data, and can include a region to present theresults of such. These regions can comprise known text and/or graphicregions comprising dialog boxes, static controls, drop-down menus, listboxes, pop-up menus, edit controls, combo boxes, radio buttons, checkboxes, push buttons, and graphic boxes. In addition, utilities tofacilitate the presentation such as vertical and/or horizontalscrollbars for navigation and toolbar buttons to determine whether aregion will be viewable can be employed. For example, the user caninteract with one or more of the components coupled and/or incorporatedinto management component 204.

Users can also interact with regions to select and provide informationvia various devices such as a mouse, roller ball, keypad, keyboard,and/or voice activation, for example. Typically, the mechanism such as apush button or the enter key on the keyboard can be employed subsequentto entering the information in order to initiate, for example, a query.However, it is to be appreciated that the claimed subject matter is notso limited. For example, nearly highlighting a checkbox can initiateinformation conveyance. In another example, a command line interface canbe employed. For example, the command line interface can prompt (e.g.,via text message on a display and an audio tone) the user forinformation via a text message. The user can then provide suitableinformation, such as alphanumeric input corresponding to an optionprovided in the interface prompt or an answer to a question posed in theprompt. It is to be appreciated that the command line interface can beemployed in connection with a graphical user interface and/orapplication programming interface (API). In addition, the command lineinterface can be employed in connection with hardware (e.g., videocards) and/or displays (e.g., black-and-white, and EGA) with limitedgraphic support, and/or low bandwidth communication channels.

FIG. 9 depicts a system 900 that employs artificial intelligence toeffectuate and facilitate monitoring and/or management of multimediacontent persisted on storage facilities associated with handheld devicesin accordance with an aspect of the subject matter as claimed.Accordingly, as illustrated, system 900 can include an intelligencecomponent 902 that can be utilized, for example, to dynamicallyascertain one or more of cache sizes, predictions as to a user's likesand dislike, prediction regarding a user's likelihood of watchingparticular multimedia content, and the like. Intelligence component 902can employ a probabilistic based or statistical based approach, forexample, in connection with making determinations or inferences.Inferences can be based in part upon explicit training of classifiers(not shown) before employing system 100, or implicit training based atleast in part upon system feedback and/or users previous actions,commands, instructions, and the like during use of the system.Intelligence component 902 can employ any suitable scheme (e.g., numeralnetworks, expert systems, Bayesian belief networks, support vectormachines (SVMs), Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), fuzzy logic, data fusion,etc.) in accordance with implementing various automated aspectsdescribed herein. Intelligence component 902 can factor historical data,extrinsic data, context, data content, state of the user, and cancompute cost of making an incorrect determination or inference versusbenefit of making a correct determination or inference. Accordingly, autility-based analysis can be employed with providing such informationto other components or taking automated action. Ranking and confidencemeasures can also be calculated and employed in connection with suchanalysis.

In view of the exemplary systems shown and described supra,methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the disclosedsubject matter will be better appreciated with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 10. While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, themethodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to beunderstood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is notlimited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur indifferent orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what isdepicted and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks maybe required to implement the methodologies described hereinafter.Additionally, it should be further appreciated that the methodologiesdisclosed hereinafter and throughout this specification are capable ofbeing stored on an article of manufacture to facilitate transporting andtransferring such methodologies to computers.

The claimed subject matter can be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed byone or more components. Generally, program modules can include routines,programs, objects, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Typically the functionalityof the program modules may be combined and/or distributed as desired invarious aspects.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative methodology 1000 that can be implementedon a virtual personal video recorder system. At 1002 various and sundryinitialization tasks and processes can be undertaken after which method1000 can proceed to 1004. At 1004 methodology 1000 can monitor diskspace associated with a handheld device. At 1006, methodology 1000 canemploy one of heuristics, artificial intelligence, machine learning,statistical and/or probabilistic methodologies to ascertain the futureprobability and/or likelihood that particular content will stimulate aparticular user's interest sufficient to provide indication of whetheror not to maintain the content on storage media associated with handhelddevice, or transfer and remove the content and persist such content in aremote storage media farm for subsequent recall by the user at a moreappropriate time. At 1008 and 1010 methodology 1000 can utilize thedeterminations made at 1006 to age out, archive, and/or compress contentidentified as being unlikely to be viewed by the user in the immediatefuture by distributing and persisting all but the initial frames of themultimedia content to one or more remote storage farms at 1010, andstoring the initial frames in a cache resident on the handheld device at1008.

The claimed subject matter can be implemented via object orientedprogramming techniques. For example, each component of the system can bean object in a software routine or a component within an object. Objectoriented programming shifts the emphasis of software development awayfrom function decomposition and towards the recognition of units ofsoftware called “objects” which encapsulate both data and functions.Object Oriented Programming (OOP) objects are software entitiescomprising data structures and operations on data. Together, theseelements enable objects to model virtually any real-world entity interms of its characteristics, represented by its data elements, and itsbehavior represented by its data manipulation functions. In this way,objects can model concrete things like people and computers, and theycan model abstract concepts like numbers or geometrical concepts.

The benefit of object technology arises out of three basic principles:encapsulation, polymorphism and inheritance. Objects hide or encapsulatethe internal structure of their data and the algorithms by which theirfunctions work. Instead of exposing these implementation details,objects present interfaces that represent their abstractions cleanlywith no extraneous information. Polymorphism takes encapsulationone-step further—the idea being many shapes, one interface. A softwarecomponent can make a request of another component without knowingexactly what that component is. The component that receives the requestinterprets it and figures out according to its variables and data how toexecute the request. The third principle is inheritance, which allowsdevelopers to reuse pre-existing design and code. This capability allowsdevelopers to avoid creating software from scratch. Rather, throughinheritance, developers derive subclasses that inherit behaviors thatthe developer then customizes to meet particular needs.

In particular, an object includes, and is characterized by, a set ofdata (e.g., attributes) and a set of operations (e.g., methods), thatcan operate on the data. Generally, an object's data is ideally changedonly through the operation of the object's methods. Methods in an objectare invoked by passing a message to the object (e.g., message passing).The message specifies a method name and an argument list. When theobject receives the message, code associated with the named method isexecuted with the formal parameters of the method bound to thecorresponding values in the argument list. Methods and message passingin OOP are analogous to procedures and procedure calls inprocedure-oriented software environments.

However, while procedures operate to modify and return passedparameters, methods operate to modify the internal state of theassociated objects (by modifying the data contained therein). Thecombination of data and methods in objects is called encapsulation.Encapsulation provides for the state of an object to only be changed bywell-defined methods associated with the object. When the behavior of anobject is confined to such well-defined locations and interfaces,changes (e.g., code modifications) in the object will have minimalimpact on the other objects and elements in the system.

Each object is an instance of some class. A class includes a set of dataattributes plus a set of allowable operations (e.g., methods) on thedata attributes. As mentioned above, OOP supports inheritance—a class(called a subclass) may be derived from another class (called a baseclass, parent class, etc.), where the subclass inherits the dataattributes and methods of the base class. The subclass may specializethe base class by adding code which overrides the data and/or methods ofthe base class, or which adds new data attributes and methods. Thus,inheritance represents a mechanism by which abstractions are madeincreasingly concrete as subclasses are created for greater levels ofspecialization.

As used in this application, the terms “component” and “system” areintended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, acombination of hardware and software, software, or software inexecution. For example, a component can be, but is not limited to being,a process running on a processor, a processor, a hard disk drive,multiple storage drives (of optical and/or magnetic storage medium), anobject, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or acomputer. By way of illustration, both an application running on aserver and the server can be a component. One or more components canreside within a process and/or thread of execution, and a component canbe localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or morecomputers.

Artificial intelligence based systems (e.g., explicitly and/orimplicitly trained classifiers) can be employed in connection withperforming inference and/or probabilistic determinations and/orstatistical-based determinations as in accordance with one or moreaspects of the claimed subject matter as described hereinafter. As usedherein, the term “inference,” “infer” or variations in form thereofrefers generally to the process of reasoning about or inferring statesof the system, environment, and/or user from a set of observations ascaptured via events and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify aspecific context or action, or can generate a probability distributionover states, for example. The inference can be probabilistic—that is,the computation of a probability distribution over states of interestbased on a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer totechniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set ofevents and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of newevents or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored eventdata, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporalproximity, and whether the events and data come from one or severalevent and data sources. Various classification schemes and/or systems(e.g., support vector machines, neural networks, expert systems,Bayesian belief networks, fuzzy logic, data fusion engines . . . ) canbe employed in connection with performing automatic and/or inferredaction in connection with the claimed subject matter.

Furthermore, all or portions of the claimed subject matter may beimplemented as a system, method, apparatus, or article of manufactureusing standard programming and/or engineering techniques to producesoftware, firmware, hardware or any combination thereof to control acomputer to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term “article ofmanufacture” as used herein is intended to encompass a computer programaccessible from any computer-readable device or media. For example,computer readable media can include but are not limited to magneticstorage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ),optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . .. ), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive. . . ). Additionally it should be appreciated that a carrier wave canbe employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as thoseused in transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing anetwork such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN). Of course,those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications may be madeto this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of theclaimed subject matter.

Some portions of the detailed description have been presented in termsof algorithms and/or symbolic representations of operations on data bitswithin a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and/orrepresentations are the means employed by those cognizant in the art tomost effectively convey the substance of their work to others equallyskilled. An algorithm is here, generally, conceived to be aself-consistent sequence of acts leading to a desired result. The actsare those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities.Typically, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form ofelectrical and/or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred,combined, compared, and/or otherwise manipulated.

It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of commonusage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols,characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be borne in mind,however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated withthe appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labelsapplied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise asapparent from the foregoing discussion, it is appreciated thatthroughout the disclosed subject matter, discussions utilizing termssuch as processing, computing, calculating, determining, and/ordisplaying, and the like, refer to the action and processes of computersystems, and/or similar consumer and/or industrial electronic devicesand/or machines, that manipulate and/or transform data represented asphysical (electrical and/or electronic) quantities within the computer'sand/or machine's registers and memories into other data similarlyrepresented as physical quantities within the machine and/or computersystem memories or registers or other such information storage,transmission and/or display devices.

Referring now to FIG. 11, there is illustrated a block diagram of acomputer operable to execute the disclosed system. In order to provideadditional context for various aspects thereof, FIG. 11 and thefollowing discussion are intended to provide a brief, generaldescription of a suitable computing environment 1100 in which thevarious aspects of the claimed subject matter can be implemented. Whilethe description above is in the general context of computer-executableinstructions that may run on one or more computers, those skilled in theart will recognize that the subject matter as claimed also can beimplemented in combination with other program modules and/or as acombination of hardware and software.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, datastructures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the inventive methods can be practiced with other computer systemconfigurations, including single-processor or multiprocessor computersystems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, as well as personalcomputers, hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, and the like, each of which can beoperatively coupled to one or more associated devices.

The illustrated aspects of the claimed subject matter may also bepracticed in distributed computing environments where certain tasks areperformed by remote processing devices that are linked through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules can be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

A computer typically includes a variety of computer-readable media.Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby the computer and includes both volatile and non-volatile media,removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer-readable media can comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatileand non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM,ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalvideo disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can be accessed by the computer.

With reference again to FIG. 11, the exemplary environment 1100 forimplementing various aspects includes a computer 1102, the computer 1102including a processing unit 1104, a system memory 1106 and a system bus1108. The system bus 1108 couples system components including, but notlimited to, the system memory 1106 to the processing unit 1104. Theprocessing unit 1104 can be any of various commercially availableprocessors. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architecturesmay also be employed as the processing unit 1104.

The system bus 1108 can be any of several types of bus structure thatmay further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memorycontroller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety ofcommercially available bus architectures. The system memory 1106includes read-only memory (ROM) 1110 and random access memory (RAM)1112. A basic input/output system (BIOS) is stored in a non-volatilememory 1110 such as ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, which BIOS contains the basicroutines that help to transfer information between elements within thecomputer 1102, such as during start-up. The RAM 1112 can also include ahigh-speed RAM such as static RAM for caching data.

The computer 1102 further includes an internal hard disk drive (HDD)1114 (e.g., EIDE, SATA), which internal hard disk drive 1114 may also beconfigured for external use in a suitable chassis (not shown), amagnetic floppy disk drive (FDD) 1116, (e.g., to read from or write to aremovable diskette 1118) and an optical disk drive 1120, (e.g., readinga CD-ROM disk 1122 or, to read from or write to other high capacityoptical media such as the DVD). The hard disk drive 11 14, magnetic diskdrive 1116 and optical disk drive 1120 can be connected to the systembus 1108 by a hard disk drive interface 1124, a magnetic disk driveinterface 1126 and an optical drive interface 1128, respectively. Theinterface 1124 for external drive implementations includes at least oneor both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE 1394 interfacetechnologies. Other external drive connection technologies are withincontemplation of the claimed subject matter.

The drives and their associated computer-readable media providenonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executableinstructions, and so forth. For the computer 1102, the drives and mediaaccommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format.Although the description of computer-readable media above refers to aHDD, a removable magnetic diskette, and a removable optical media suchas a CD or DVD, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat other types of media which are readable by a computer, such as zipdrives, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, cartridges, and thelike, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment, andfurther, that any such media may contain computer-executableinstructions for performing the methods of the disclosed and claimedsubject matter.

A number of program modules can be stored in the drives and RAM 1112,including an operating system 1130, one or more application programs1132, other program modules 1134 and program data 1136. All or portionsof the operating system, applications, modules, and/or data can also becached in the RAM 1112. It is to be appreciated that the claimed subjectmatter can be implemented with various commercially available operatingsystems or combinations of operating systems.

A user can enter commands and information into the computer 1102 throughone or more wired/wireless input devices, e.g., a keyboard 1138 and apointing device, such as a mouse 1140. Other input devices (not shown)may include a microphone, an IR remote control, a joystick, a game pad,a stylus pen, touch screen, or the like. These and other input devicesare often connected to the processing unit 1104 through an input deviceinterface 1142 that is coupled to the system bus 1108, but can beconnected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, an IEEE 1394serial port, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, etc.

A monitor 1144 or other type of display device is also connected to thesystem bus 1108 via an interface, such as a video adapter 1146. Inaddition to the monitor 1144, a computer typically includes otherperipheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers, etc.

The computer 1102 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections via wired and/or wireless communications to one or moreremote computers, such as a remote computer(s) 1148. The remotecomputer(s) 1148 can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, apersonal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainmentappliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typicallyincludes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer1102, although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device1150 is illustrated. The logical connections depicted includewired/wireless connectivity to a local area network (LAN) 1152 and/orlarger networks, e.g., a wide area network (WAN) 1154. Such LAN and WANnetworking environments are commonplace in offices and companies, andfacilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all ofwhich may connect to a global communications network, e.g., theInternet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 1102 isconnected to the local network 1152 through a wired and/or wirelesscommunication network interface or adapter 1156. The adaptor 1156 mayfacilitate wired or wireless communication to the LAN 1152, which mayalso include a wireless access point disposed thereon for communicatingwith the wireless adaptor 1156.

When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 1102 can includea modem 1158, or is connected to a communications server on the WAN1154, or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN1154, such as by way of the Internet. The modem 1158, which can beinternal or external and a wired or wireless device, is connected to thesystem bus 1108 via the serial port interface 1142. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 1102, orportions thereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device1150. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown areexemplary and other means of establishing a communications link betweenthe computers can be used.

The computer 1102 is operable to communicate with any wireless devicesor entities operatively disposed in wireless communication, e.g., aprinter, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, portable dataassistant, communications satellite, any piece of equipment or locationassociated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, news stand,restroom), and telephone. This includes at least Wi-Fi and Bluetooth™wireless technologies. Thus, the communication can be a predefinedstructure as with a conventional network or simply an ad hoccommunication between at least two devices.

Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity, allows connection to the Internet from acouch at home, a bed in a hotel room, or a conference room at work,without wires. Wi-Fi is a wireless technology similar to that used in acell phone that enables such devices, e.g., computers, to send andreceive data indoors and out; anywhere within the range of a basestation. Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11x (a,b, g, etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. AWi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to theInternet, and to wired networks (which use IEEE 802.3 or Ethernet).

Wi-Fi networks can operate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands.IEEE 802.11 applies to generally to wireless LANs and provides 1 or 2Mbps transmission in the 2.4 GHz band using either frequency hoppingspread spectrum (FHSS) or direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS). IEEE802.11a is an extension to IEEE 802.11 that applies to wireless LANs andprovides up to 54 Mbps in the 5 GHz band. IEEE 802.11a uses anorthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) encoding scheme ratherthan FHSS or DSSS. IEEE 802.11b (also referred to as 802.11 High RateDSSS or Wi-Fi) is an extension to 802.11 that applies to wireless LANsand provides 11 Mbps transmission (with a fallback to 5.5, 2 and 1 Mbps)in the 2.4 GHz band. IEEE 802.11g applies to wireless LANs and provides20+ Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band. Products can contain more than one band(e.g., dual band), so the networks can provide real-world performancesimilar to the basic 10 BaseT wired Ethernet networks used in manyoffices.

Referring now to FIG. 12, there is illustrated a schematic block diagramof an exemplary computing environment 1200 for processing the disclosedarchitecture in accordance with another aspect. The system 1200 includesone or more client(s) 1202. The client(s) 1202 can be hardware and/orsoftware (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices). The client(s)1202 can house cookie(s) and/or associated contextual information byemploying the claimed subject matter, for example.

The system 1200 also includes one or more server(s) 1204. The server(s)1204 can also be hardware and/or software (e.g., threads, processes,computing devices). The servers 1204 can house threads to performtransformations by employing the claimed subject matter, for example.One possible communication between a client 1202 and a server 1204 canbe in the form of a data packet adapted to be transmitted between two ormore computer processes. The data packet may include a cookie and/orassociated contextual information, for example. The system 1200 includesa communication framework 1206 (e.g., a global communication networksuch as the Internet) that can be employed to facilitate communicationsbetween the client(s) 1202 and the server(s) 1204.

Communications can be facilitated via a wired (including optical fiber)and/or wireless technology. The client(s) 1202 are operatively connectedto one or more client data store(s) 1208 that can be employed to storeinformation local to the client(s) 1202 (e.g., cookie(s) and/orassociated contextual information). Similarly, the server(s) 1204 areoperatively connected to one or more server data store(s) 1210 that canbe employed to store information local to the servers 1204.

What has been described above includes examples of the disclosed andclaimed subject matter. It is, of course, not possible to describe everyconceivable combination of components and/or methodologies, but one ofordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinationsand permutations are possible. Accordingly, the claimed subject matteris intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications andvariations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in eitherthe detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to beinclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising”is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.

1. A system implemented on a machine that manages media content,comprising: a component that synchronizes with a device in continuous orintermittent communication with the component, automatically determinesan amount of available storage space associated with the device, andbased at least in part on the available space, the component removes amedia presentation persisted on the storage space.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, the component removes every frame but an initial set of framesaffiliated with the media presentation.
 3. The system of claim 2, thecomponent creates a sized cache on the storage space and stores theinitial set of frames in the sized cache.
 4. The system of claim 3, thesized cache dependent on a speed of communications between the componentand the device.
 5. The system of claim 4, the faster an assessed speedof communications the larger the sized cache and the greater a number offrames included in the initial set of frames.
 6. The system of claim 2,the initial set of frames utilized by the component during an interimperiod between a request by a user for playback of removed content andretrieval of a remainder set of frames associated with the initial setof frames.
 7. The system of claim 6, the remainder set of frames storedon a media farm.
 8. The system of claim 7, the media farm includesstorage media associated with a household appliance, a multimediaplayer, or a portable computer.
 9. The system of claim 8, the householdappliance includes a microwave oven, a dishwasher, or a refrigerator.10. The system of claim 1, the component ascertains a predictivelikelihood that a user will view the media presentation.
 11. The systemof claim 10, the predictive likelihood based at least in part on priorutilization of the device by the user.
 12. The system of claim 10, thepredictive likelihood based at least in part on past viewing behaviorassociated with the user.
 13. A machine implemented method that managesmedia content, comprising: employing a component to determine storageutilization of a handheld device; based at least on the storageutilization, identifying media content for removal from storageassociated with the handheld device; and transferring the media contentfrom the storage associated with the handheld device to a media storagefarm associated with the component.
 14. The method of claim 13, thetransferring includes removing all frames but a dynamically ascertainednumber of initial frames, the frames relate to the media content. 15.The method of claim 14, the dynamically ascertained number of initialframes based on an assessed communication speed between the componentand the handheld device.
 16. The method of claim 14, the dynamicallyascertained number of initial frames based on an assessed communicationspeed between the component and the media storage farm.
 17. The methodof claim 14, utilizing the dynamically ascertained number of initialframes when a user requests transferred media content prior toretrieving the transferred media content from the media storage farm.18. The method of claim 13, the identifying includes utilizingartificial intelligence, machine learning, or heuristics to predict alikelihood that a user will view the media presentation in a futureperiod of time.
 19. The method of claim 18, the likelihood based on anassessed communication speed between the component and the handhelddevice, on prior utilization of the handheld device by a user, or onpast viewing behavior associated with other users of the handhelddevice.
 20. A media content management system, comprising: means formonitoring content and available storage space on a portable mediaplaying device; and means for dynamically aging out and loading newcontent to the device as a function of user references, where a subsetof the aged out content is left on the device.